


Soft As Chalk

by ballpoint



Category: Marvel 616, Young Avengers
Genre: Character of Colour, Chromatic Character, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, dw kink_meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-01
Updated: 2010-10-01
Packaged: 2017-10-12 08:21:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/122862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ballpoint/pseuds/ballpoint
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kate tells Eli about her sexual assault. Together, both of them cope. Written for the prompt over in DW kink_meme</p>
            </blockquote>





	Soft As Chalk

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer** :Characters and situations are the property of Stan Lee and Marvel Comics. No profit is being made off this fan-written work.
> 
> This fic speaks about a past sexual assault, so please bear this in mind when reading. Also, the protagonists are teenagers, so how they handle this might be a bit clumsy.

Kate sat up, squashing the pillow against her chest, chewing on her index fingernail. Pulling it away from her mouth, she frowned at its ragged edge, the sheen of spittle and cleared her throat. Surreptitiously, she glanced in the direction of Eli, seated at the end of her bed.

"I have something to say, and once I've said it, that's it. We're not talking about this again."

"Okay." Eli dragged out the syllables, his feet flat on the ground, his elbows resting on his knees, his head turned to her, the glint of his earring in the twilight. Tonight, they were in her room for two reasons; her dad being away, and the fact that she didn't want this tainting the Young Avengers HQ if things went wrong. She'd asked him to come now, at dusk, when most of the staff would have been in their quarters, save Joseph, the head housekeeper. He'd shown Eli to her room with nary a flicker of emotion on his face.

"Mister Bradley to see you, ma'am," he inclined his head in her direction with such _gravity_ Eli hid a grin behind his fist. Kate tried to hold on to the picture his face made just those few minutes ago, because she couldn't look at him now. Instead, her eyes focused on the curtains, and the lights beyond them.

"Three years ago, before I joined the YA, I used to - I was-" she hugged the pillow tighter. "I used to go to soup kitchens, with my mom."

"I hear the grub's good there."

"Better than Nobo's finest," Kate tried to laugh, but her throat was too tight, too dry. "I - when my mom died, I still did, because that's what we did. I'd finish school, help with the soup kitchens. My dad always wanted me to have a driver, but I didn't, you know?"

"Because chauffeurs are uncool, huh?"

"Totally. I'd just _die_ ," Kate shuddered out a shaky breath, appreciating what Eli was trying to do. "I'd go through the Park, and it would be a short cut home. I did it like that for almost a year. School, kitchens, home." She waved her hand, as if she could trace the three points of her life up to that point.

"I liked the nights, when you'd see the dark blue of the sky and the shadows of the leaves. I'd look up at the sky and try to see the stars. You can't see much of them in the city, and how _bright_ they are and one night-" her hand touched her collar bone. A jerk as she remembered her lacrosse case slammed against her throat. Her hands clawing for breath, against the bulk of the case, her nails sinking into her own skin, the blood pooling under them. Eli must have sensed something coming, because the bed jerked under his weight.

"Kate-"

"Let me finish," she held out her arm, fingers splayed in the universal sign for stop, the other still hugging her pillow. "If I stop now, I don't know if I can say it again," she raised her gaze to his at last, him a blur through her tears, and wiped at them with the heel of her hand. Eli's forehead now wrinkled into lines of worry, his face grim as he came to the verdict way before Kate got there, but he waited.

"I do remember the twilight, the crunch of leaves under his feet, but people walk, right? That's what they do. I didn't think anything of it," she picked at the point of her pillow. The cruel thing about having a photographic memory was the fact that everything came up in sharp relief, when she didn't want it to. Kate recalled the kiss of air of her face, as she strode through the park, her head down, her thoughts chased up with her sister's wedding. "I remember thinking, 'I don't want to wear a lilac bridesmaid dress. Probably if I convinced Susan to drift along to a deeper purple?' Because that was my world, and a wedding that was enough to fund the GDP of a small country was everything. I was stupid, then."

"You were fifteen."

"Synonyms, right?" Kate's laugh was shaky. "But it doesn't matter. I felt something around my throat, and I fought. I cried and fought. But I wasn't strong enough. I couldn't fight back. Right now, I'd know what to do, but I didn't then, and I-"

"You were raped."

Kate nodded mutely, her hands covering her mouth. "I just-"

"It wasn't your fault," and as if by magic, he was right there, and Kate couldn't bear it, as she flinched when he tried to take her hand in his, only to let her fingers slowly fall away from his touch.

"You need to go."

"Kate."

Desperate, Kate pulled away from his gasp, and pressed the buzzer by her bedside table, willing Joseph to answer.

"Ma'am?"

"Mr Bradley is leaving," she rubbed her forehead, trying to keep the tremors in her voice to an even keel. "Can you please call for a taxi to take him home?"

"Certainly."

Kate didn't look at Eli as she curled up in a ball around her pillow. She stared at the embossed paisley print wall paper instead, its tint blue in this light instead of the rich cream she knew it to be in the day.

She heard Eli's movements as he got up, lingered at the spot of her bed where she curled around the pillow into a ball, like a kitten. Kate felt his eyes on her, and knew what he saw: the rigid line of her shoulders, her hair over her face.

"Kate -"

"Just go, please?"

"Okay."

Kate wiped away tears as Eli's quiet assent hit home, but she didn't say anything. After ten minutes of her not moving, Eli walked off.

* * *

As soon as Billy lined up his transportation disc with the roof of the old Bishop publishing building, Kate took a running leap and jumped off, bow in hand, giving herself a soft landing with bent knees. Eli, not waiting on Billy to lower the disc to a more suitable distance, followed, his steps eating up the distance between Kate and himself, and he grabbed at her arm, and she whirled to face him. Her temper matching his, Kate tried to shrug his hold off, but damn him and that damned super soldier serum. Damn Elijah Bradley to hell.

"Hey, we were speaking."

"No, you were _scolding_ me, as if I were some child to be dressed down and not the leader of this team. Remember?"

"Because, Bishop, hotdogging stunts like that might look good on TV, but in real life, it could have gotten Cassie or Teddy killed."

"I took a _calculated risk_ ," Kate's hold on her temper was shaky at best, as she turned on Eli, getting in his face. "Calculated. Risk. Got that?" Only for Eli to give her _that_ look, complete with furrowed brow, and unable to help herself, Kate spat. "You can't talk to me after - that night, but you can do this?"

"What?"

"You're holding my arm."

Eli jumped back, releasing his hold from Kate as if she'd been a ticking time bomb. Kate raised her eyes to his, and saw the mixture of apologies and dread there. _Oh my God_. "I shouldn't have told you," Kate tried, and failed to keep the bitterness from her voice. "I wish I hadn't."

"Hey, there, beautif- ow!" Tommy greeted as Kate stormed through the kitchen, shoving him to the side as if she had the winning ball clutched to her chest, her legs pumping madly, eyeing a touchdown.

* * *

That evening, Eli found himself outside her door, and he knocked.

"Who's it?"

"Me."

"Oh, _me_." A pause, and a rustle of bedclothes, before she said, "Come in."

Eli did as bid, pushed the door open and stepped in. This room here - in the YA HQ seemed more Kate than the room in her parents' house. Over there glitzy curtains, frills and heavily filigreed lines everywhere. Here, the room in cool, almost icy blues, the brightly coloured posters, cushions and rugs the key spots of colour. It wasn't what one expected of Kate, but in a way, it suited. After picking his way around her cello case and the smaller violin ones, he stopped before her. Kate had shucked off her suit, now clad in a white tight racer top, and plaid pyjama bottoms. Her face bare, with the goggles she used for archery practice in the gym still perched on top of her head, like some sort of headband.

Eli sat, right beside Kate. Close enough to see the flutter of her lashes, the flecks of gold in her blue eyes if you looked in them long enough, and he had, and the smudge of eye pencil along her upper lids.

Gingerly, he held her hand. Kate's hands always surprised him. They looked delicate, fine boned, but the callouses at the tips of her fingers, and the strength in them said otherwise.

"When you told me what happened two nights ago, I wanted to hunt this guy down and kill him for you. Although the YA aren't supposed to kill. Except Iron Lad, that one time."

Kate's ragged laugh was heartier than what the feeble joke deserved.

"I wanted to tell you before, but - I didn't need to," she tucked an errant shock of hair behind her ear. "It's my _business_ , and it shouldn't change what I _am_ , and when it did-"

"It didn't," Eli cut in. "Not in the way you mean. I mean, it made sense, like why you wigged out when we grabbed you from behind that time before dumping you in the pool. Or when I touch your neck and your pulse rackets up like, three gears, and just your general... Katenessless. Ness. Less."

"That tears it, you're _so_ not writing my psychological profile, Eli Bradley." Kate rubbed her nose with the back of her free hand, the other one still in his clasp.

"Okay, so I'm no Doc Samson, but I don't know about the stuff that might freak you out or-"

"Triggers," Kate corrected. "They're called _triggers_. I can deal with that," and the glint in her eye when she said this made him realise that yes, she could, and did. "But I can't deal with you not touching me, or when you do, you do that thing."

"That. Thing."

"What do you did today, you let me go. You jump back. You don't yell. You don't try to steal kisses." At this, colour crept along Kate's cheeks, as she dipped her head, her goggles shifting from her eyes, and falling around her neck to hang like some trendy necklace.

"I want to be careful," Eli angled his head to be on the same level with hers, and a thought struck him. "I don't try to steal kisses. Okay, except for that Siege thing, because we were totally gonna die."

Kate lifted her head, and rested her fingers along his forearm. Their faces were close enough for their eyelashes to touch, and Kate rubbed her nose against his.

"Kiss me as if we're gonna die, Eli."

"That's such a line out of a cheesy date movie," Eli wondered why they were trying to out quip each other, and realised that he could deal with careful, and tentative touches, but if she froze...he didn't know what he would do. Or worse, how they'd cope.

Kate's words reverberated between them like a challenge. _Kiss me as if we're gonna die, Eli_.

Eli grabbed the front of her vest, yanked her to him, and pressed his lips aginst hers. Kate threw her arms around his shoulders, and drew him to her, rucking his shirt out of his trousers in the process. Between them, they half pulled, half pushed each other across the bed.

Kate's eyes fluttered closed as Eli made good on the dare she threw out there. They giggled as their teeth clinked together on the first go. On the second go, she bit his lip just a touch too hard, and he broke away, rubbing his lower lip with his fingers.

"Ow."

"Sorry."

"That hurt."

"Grumpy."

"If that's what you are, then what am I?"

Kate gaped at Eli's comment, caught off guard by the childish retort for a few seconds. Eli, sensing his advantage, angled his head to kiss her again, and oh, yeah. Better than the one back there under Asgard, because they so weren't going to die. Not yet, anyway. When he nudged his thigh between hers in between kisses, she wriggled and shifted to give him better access. His erection pressed against her inner thigh, him hard and ready through his slacks. Kate dragged his shirt off his back and over his head, and skimmed her fingers over his skin.

"Ah, man," Eli whispered in her ear, while Kate hummed as his fingers brushed the sensitive skin of her back. "You're wearing a sportsbra again, right?"

"You try to fight high powered super asshats without support, I _dare_ you."

"But it means I can't do that trick."

"I hate to break this to you, Eli, but- everyone knows that trick. It's not even a trick, it's a... an untrick." Kate half sat up, giving herself just enough space to tear off her top and bra, unable to clamp down on the shock of pleasure as Eli thumbed her nipple.

Between the kissing and the laughter, and the snark - they were naked, save for Kate's panties. They'd done this before, and it got less clumsy every time. "Like training," she remembered Eli saying once, and she'd bopped him over the head with the pillow. She'd never tell him why, her breath hitching against his lips as he inched her panties down her thighs with his hands. It still felt new, Kate marvelled, as she reached for the bedside table, while still kissing him, his body moving with hers. "Mmm," a muffled groan, as her fingers searched the open drawer, and she swore on the sharp point of an arrowhead. Walked her fingers over half empty pens, tampons and clasped her fingers around the little tin.

"We don't have to do this."

"I know, but I want to," Kate picked at the seal, as she lay on her back, holding the tin in front of her face. "If I can get this thing open."

"Give it here for a second."

Kate and Eli found themselves sitting up a few minutes later, still trying to open said tin. "I can't believe this. We can't - arrgh!"

"I can't believe that we've battled Kang, toured with Magneto and can't open a tin of condoms." Eli groused, hunched over the tin and its intricacies as if it were Math.

"Let me get an arrow," Kate swiped the tin from his grasp, ready to bounce out of bed, only for Eli to grab her arm.

"No trick arrows, are you _crazy_?"

"We can't do this otherwise."

Eli let her arm go, and stroked her shoulder, from the edge of clavicle to elbow, Kate's skin goose bumping at his touch. She held up the tin and squeezed it at the corner, both pairs of eyes widening in surprise when it clicked open. Kate quicker on the uptake than Eli, as she closed the distance between them. Kate's thumb brushed his lower lip, before kissing him again. Her hand drifted downwards, and without incident, they slipped the condom on, and Kate drew him to bed.

Normally, this was the bad part, someone -anyone- _looming_ above her in the shadows. Her heart rate at a gallop, to the point where it made her throat close with the panic around it, just because. However, this was Eli, the tremor in his forearms as he tried to keep his weight off her. His lips nipping her ear, tracing a line along her jaw. They'd kiss as long as she needed. A peck on her chin, or the deep kisses, where they'd try to _inhale_ each other; sloppy and involved. Or just the brush of lips against her pulse until it stopped racing. She'd let him in, taking her time, so that she didn't have to flinch with the drag of penetration, and her eyes slid shut when Eli entered completely; his lips on her cheek, his voice in her ear. She'd sink her nails into his shoulders - and for this moment, be steady.

* * *

After Kate came back from the bathroom, she scrambled into bed, smelling of soap, clean cotton and toothpaste. Eli felt her burrowing underneath the sheets, tucking her head under his, her breath skittering across his chest. There were things that weighed on his heart, that he wanted to say.

"Did you ever think of asking Billy to do some magical hocus pocus and find the fucker who did this to you?"

"No," Kate's nails lightly scratched his skin. Then a breath. "Yes." Then, after a pause and a sigh, Kate's forehead touched his chest, and she nipped his pecs with her teeth. "It's going to sound stupid but - no. I don't want to know. I've thought about it - but no."

"Hey," Eli tweaked her nose, and Kate rolled on top of him. After the physicality of sex, this was just pure intimacy, with them sharing body heat and closeness and beats of quiet. Kate flicked his nose with her finger, before Eli covered her hand with his.

"Hey yourself."

"About what happened to you -" Eli twirled a lock of her hair around his forefinger. "You did good getting through it. It doesn't change what we are, not unless if you ignore the fact that I respect you loads more right now. If we were in the orbit of Planet Awkward for a time... I'm sorry."

" 'Planet Awkward'? Someone's been hanging around Billy way too long."

"Hey, Billy is a cool guy."

"You're _my_ boyfriend, remember?"

Eli felt himself warm at the confession, and the fact that right in this _moment_ of time, life was perfect. "As long as you'll have me," he said.

Fin.


End file.
